COURAGE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE SIR,—In the' Spectator of August 31,
Mr. Besjeman has voiced the feelings of many thousands of people who work voluntarily to preserve our heritage. Voluntary work is tradi- tional, often held together by the people who are hardest hit by income tax and death duties and whose leisure hours today are virtually non-existent. Mr. Betjeman questions how long can he continue to labour without encouragement and financial supports from those who are in a position to give it.
Propaganda is one of our •greatest dangers. A favourite phrase so often heard is, 'Well. there is nothing you can do about it.' What happens when you try? One charming man after another will agree with all you say, but he has lost his identity. He can refer to an Act which is so worded that neither the reader nor the listener can understand it, and sug- gests that you should inquire from another ministry or authority. You are batted like a ping-pong ball from one ministry to another until the little piece of" quiet and beauty of England that you were at your own time and expense trying to preserve has been turned into a rubbish dump, or wired off so that a photograph of it would not tell you if it was Buchenwald or a part of England.
Can any one man, ministry or authority he blamed for this? The answer is No. because not only is the countryside being deprived of its chief characteristics, but also the character of Englishmen. They are fast losing a main characteristic, namely courage. They hide behind their Acts and schedules, they hide together under the cloaks of their committees behind locked doors, they lose what they pre- ' tend they are striving to preserve in a labyrinth of offices stretching from Whitehall to the once unique villages of England.— Yours faithfully,
ENID AIRY
Southfield Mill House. Woodchester, Stroud, Glos
Previous page
